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A Daily Genesis

Genesis 29:26-30

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[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 29:26 . . Laban said; It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the older.[/B]

Jacob lived in "our place" for seven years. I tend to think he knew full well their customs.

Perhaps Jacob expected the locals would make an exception for him because he was a rich boy from down south. But no; local custom was local custom, and even Mr[B].[/B] Silver Spoon In Your Mouth was going to have to accept it. Jacob may have had his way uncontested back at the well; but this time? Nope.

[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†. [/COLOR]Gen 29:27 . .Wait until the bridal week of this one is over and we will give you that one too, provided you serve me another seven years.[/B]

Serving Laban the first seven years for Rachel was Jacob's idea; except that instead of getting Rachel; he got Leah. Now Laban's proviso is that Jacob serve yet another seven years for Rachel; which will total fourteen for a girl he was supposed to get in seven. I think most any normal red-blooded man would have refused.

But Jacob was an Ethan Frome kind of guy. I don't think he wanted to hurt Leah, and maybe even felt partially responsible for her predicament.

That's a crummy reason to marry a girl, but I don't think Jacob could have lived with himself if he threw Leah back now. After all, Jacob was her first love, and it's not like she was used goods or anything.

It's true that Jacob was not above fraud; but basically, he was a fairly honorable man.
[B]
[COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 29:28-29 . . Jacob did so; he waited out the bridal week of the one, and then he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife. Laban had given his maidservant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.[/B]

Maidservants weren't just female commodities. They were actually a part of the household, and often treated with a pretty fair degree of respect.

[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†. [/COLOR]Gen 29:30 . . And Jacob cohabited with Rachel also; indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served him another seven years.[/B]

I'm sure Jacob never mistreated Leah. But he wasn't crazy about her in a romantic way. It's like the relationship between Robert Philip and his fiancé Nancy Tremaine in the Disney movie Enchanted. Nancy is neither a bad girl nor a bad choice-- the chemistry just isn't there.

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, Jacob's situation probably led to some favoritism. And in this case, I think Jacob began spending most of his time with Rachel and leaving Leah out in the cold; so to speak; viz[B]:[/B] she was in the unenviable limbo of a burden to her husband. However, since Jacob chose to keep Leah, he was morally obligated to treat her as if he was infatuated with her, even if he really wasn't.

When you get right down to it; Leah didn't do any more to Jacob than what he did to his dad; so all in all[B]:[/B] what right had Jacob to complain? I've a pretty strong feeling that after Leah's week was fulfilled, no more was said about this incident.